Kenyan children do their homework by firelight

Children studying at night using a flame on a stick in their manyatta (mud-thatch home) at Kisima in Samburu county, Kenya. Photos taken on May 24, 2012 and made available to msnbc.com today.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Agence France Presse released these pictures as part of a report on energy use in Kenya. At present, only about 18% of the country's households have access to power, according to figures from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), while peak demand for electricity is forecast to increase from 1,200 MW to 15,000 MW by 2030.

But ambitious plans to bolster hydro-power with wind, geothermal and solar projects could enable Kenya to become a zero-emission economy in the field of electricity generation in the coming years, according to some estimates cited by the UNEP.